Prayer for Keaton...

This has been a CRAZY year for my family. I have asked for plenty of prayer along the way. Thanks again for the prayers for Sawyer, my nephew, the prayers for me as I have gone through surgery and for my in-laws as they battle cancer. I appreciate them all.

This week, is another step in our journey where we are learning to trust God even more and allow His wonderful peace to flow over us. Earlier this week, my uncle passed away. He is technically a "step" uncle, but since he was raised with my dad, and has ALWAYS been in my family tree, well I choose not to use "step." Please pray for my family as the funeral will be tomorrow.

On another note, one of my other nephews is in need of some prayer. Bless my dear sister, it has been a CRAZY year for her. I didn't know the best way to explain the situation, so I just decided to copy her email to family and friends and let you read a little of what is going on right now.

Thanks.



Hello, friends.

Some of you may have seen on Twitter or Facebook that we spent the day at Children's Hospital with our oldest son, Keaton, today. And some of you may not have heard at all. We didn't really publicize our appointment, because we really weren't sure what exactly we were dealing with, and because we were still in stages of processing out our emotions and feelings about the whole ordeal. But, I fully recognize the power of prayer and the beauty of the fellowship of Believers, so I'm coming to you, as friends, now asking you to remember our family in prayer if we should come to mind.

It all started about a month ago. We noticed Keaton doing this weird thing with his eyes. He would dart his eyes around seemingly uncontrollably, and it was, embarrassingly enough, grating on my nerves. It was annoying and I just wanted him to quit. But, he seemed to be doing it involuntarily and couldn't control it. We went to see our family optometrist, a very trusted and well-respected physician here in Arkansas, and Keaton's condition seemed to puzzle him. Keaton's appointment with him was this past Friday morning, and by Friday afternoon, our physician had called us with an urgent referral to Children's Hospital.Needless to say, our minds were racing. Words like "brain tumor" and "blindness" were swirling in our heads, and we were perplexed as to why there was such urgency if it was just a "habit" or a slight "mannerism" as we had been told it probably was.

Today, we headed to Children's and were met with a whole stream of tests. Basically what we found out was that Keaton's eyesight is perfect. His vision tests out above normal in most categories and there is no problem with his vision. So, the problem with his eyes is not with his eyes (if that makes sense).Our ophthalmologist at Children's has referred us to the Neurology department at Children's because the idea is that all of Keaton's issues are neurologically based. Words like "seizure" and "autism" and "Tourette's Syndrome" were all thrown around today, but until we meet with a neurologist and undergo some further testing, we will not have a sound diagnosis.

Keaton has always been a "different" kind of kid. I've always blamed some of his social behavior on just being shy, overly-sensitive, and very intelligent but the more I concentrate on his behavior patterns throughout his life, those diagnosis don't seem that far-fetched. We are choosing to just trust Keaton to the One who created him. He knows Keaton's body and mind better than any doctor or brain scan ever will, and we are holding true to the fact that His purposes and timings are perfect.

Thank you for your prayers. We'll keep you updated on what we find out in the future.

Love, Kirk and Amber